THATSRACIN.COM OPINION
By DAVID POOLE - The Charlottre Observer
INDIANAPOLIS – Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that virtually every NASCAR driver carries a permanent marker in his pocket.
Thanks to what their reality has become, their lives are drawn in big, broad lines.
There’s little time for detail in this comic book world, where it’s really far more about persona than personality. You’re a good guy or a bad guy, a superhero or an archvillain.
Fans ask what a driver is really like, but what they’re actually seeking is a shorthand read so they can create an archetype in their minds. Do I like this guy or do I hate him? Heaven knows there’s no room in between.
“What would I do differently?” Kurt Busch asks. “I get that question all of the time.”
Yes, of course, there are decisions that he’d make differently given the chance. There are things he’s said that he’d like to take back and things he’s done he’d like to do over. Who among us wouldn’t like to erase a few things from our archive?
But that’s not precisely what Busch is talking about.
It’s more of a big-picture question for the driver of the No. 2 Dodges for Penske Racing, who comes into Sunday’s Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway trying to fight his way into the top 12 in the Nextel Cup standings to earn a chance to add a second championship to the one he earned in 2004 at Roush Racing.
“Maybe if I could have learned better how to be a personality in the sport,” Busch says.
“Sometimes, it’s like I am scared to walk out my front door. I am paranoid of what’s going to happen. No matter what I do, somebody always seems to get upset.”
Busch didn’t bring it up. During a rain shower here on Friday, I asked him about how hard it is for him and his younger brother, Kyle, to live in the “bad boy” cubbyholes NASCAR fans seem to have put them into.
“I don’t know what created that vibe about us,” 28-year-old Kurt said.
“Maybe I look too young and people don’t think I deserve what I have. I don’t know if it started from me and Kyle got it because of that.”
The Busch brothers certainly have given their critics plenty of ammunition.
Kurt would be in the top 12 now if he hadn’t been penalized 100 points for driving into the side of Tony Stewart’s car on pit road after they’d tangled on the track at Dover in June.
Kyle, who is still deciding what team he’ll move to for 2008 and beyond, complained about how his soon-to-be former Hendrick Motorsports teammates treated him in the draft at Daytona two races ago and earlier this year talked about how much he disliked the car of tomorrow in victory lane after winning the first race in it at Bristol.
But is it fair that all that seems to be hung on the Busch brothers like ornaments on the family Christmas tree, trotted out time after time whenever their name comes up?
“We’re guilty by nature,” Kurt says, seemingly almost resigned to accept the bad guy persona. “I live with it and I don’t mind it.”
Which, of course, means he does mind.
Kyle sounded equally frustrated at Chicagoland, when he said the perception fans have of him “has been horrible since I came into this sport, so it doesn't really even matter any more.”
Which, of course, means it matters a lot.
Nobody wants to be the guy fans boo, no matter what he says. It’s easy to say a driver might want to embrace a “bad guy” image and make it work for him, but that is infinitely easier to say than it is to do. When you’re dreaming about winning races, the fans in those dreams are all cheering.
Race fans are funny. They’ll tell you they long for drivers to speak their minds and not be so “vanilla.’ But those same fans lash out when a guy they don’t like dares to say a discouraging word.
Like them or not, the Busch brothers are good at their jobs. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see either of them in victory lane Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis.
Kurt has nine race victories and a championship. Kyle, at 22, has already won four races and is ninth in the standings going into Sunday’s race, meaning he’s in position to make his second straight Chase for the Nextel Cup.
“The oddest thing I see with Kyle and I is every team owner would love to have us race for their team,” Kurt said. “But race fans would be the last ones to choose us. It’s the weirdest thing in the world and I live with it every day.”
By DAVID POOLE - The Charlottre Observer
INDIANAPOLIS – Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that virtually every NASCAR driver carries a permanent marker in his pocket.
Thanks to what their reality has become, their lives are drawn in big, broad lines.
There’s little time for detail in this comic book world, where it’s really far more about persona than personality. You’re a good guy or a bad guy, a superhero or an archvillain.
Fans ask what a driver is really like, but what they’re actually seeking is a shorthand read so they can create an archetype in their minds. Do I like this guy or do I hate him? Heaven knows there’s no room in between.
“What would I do differently?” Kurt Busch asks. “I get that question all of the time.”
Yes, of course, there are decisions that he’d make differently given the chance. There are things he’s said that he’d like to take back and things he’s done he’d like to do over. Who among us wouldn’t like to erase a few things from our archive?
But that’s not precisely what Busch is talking about.
It’s more of a big-picture question for the driver of the No. 2 Dodges for Penske Racing, who comes into Sunday’s Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway trying to fight his way into the top 12 in the Nextel Cup standings to earn a chance to add a second championship to the one he earned in 2004 at Roush Racing.
“Maybe if I could have learned better how to be a personality in the sport,” Busch says.
“Sometimes, it’s like I am scared to walk out my front door. I am paranoid of what’s going to happen. No matter what I do, somebody always seems to get upset.”
Busch didn’t bring it up. During a rain shower here on Friday, I asked him about how hard it is for him and his younger brother, Kyle, to live in the “bad boy” cubbyholes NASCAR fans seem to have put them into.
“I don’t know what created that vibe about us,” 28-year-old Kurt said.
“Maybe I look too young and people don’t think I deserve what I have. I don’t know if it started from me and Kyle got it because of that.”
The Busch brothers certainly have given their critics plenty of ammunition.
Kurt would be in the top 12 now if he hadn’t been penalized 100 points for driving into the side of Tony Stewart’s car on pit road after they’d tangled on the track at Dover in June.
Kyle, who is still deciding what team he’ll move to for 2008 and beyond, complained about how his soon-to-be former Hendrick Motorsports teammates treated him in the draft at Daytona two races ago and earlier this year talked about how much he disliked the car of tomorrow in victory lane after winning the first race in it at Bristol.
But is it fair that all that seems to be hung on the Busch brothers like ornaments on the family Christmas tree, trotted out time after time whenever their name comes up?
“We’re guilty by nature,” Kurt says, seemingly almost resigned to accept the bad guy persona. “I live with it and I don’t mind it.”
Which, of course, means he does mind.
Kyle sounded equally frustrated at Chicagoland, when he said the perception fans have of him “has been horrible since I came into this sport, so it doesn't really even matter any more.”
Which, of course, means it matters a lot.
Nobody wants to be the guy fans boo, no matter what he says. It’s easy to say a driver might want to embrace a “bad guy” image and make it work for him, but that is infinitely easier to say than it is to do. When you’re dreaming about winning races, the fans in those dreams are all cheering.
Race fans are funny. They’ll tell you they long for drivers to speak their minds and not be so “vanilla.’ But those same fans lash out when a guy they don’t like dares to say a discouraging word.
Like them or not, the Busch brothers are good at their jobs. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see either of them in victory lane Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis.
Kurt has nine race victories and a championship. Kyle, at 22, has already won four races and is ninth in the standings going into Sunday’s race, meaning he’s in position to make his second straight Chase for the Nextel Cup.
“The oddest thing I see with Kyle and I is every team owner would love to have us race for their team,” Kurt said. “But race fans would be the last ones to choose us. It’s the weirdest thing in the world and I live with it every day.”